Camal reveals horse-driven Viva carriage concept

Design studios and noted automakers alike have used their time to test the waters of the semi and fully autonomous tech installed inside the vehicle, but not as much time wondering about the new exterior possibilities. Nowadays, it has become common for famous automakers to release their concepts on electric motors and autonomous tech, and these futuristic cars convey very different forms and shapes unlike the ones we see every day.

Now, imagine the future of transportation if there's no need for internal combustion engine and how will it affect the automotive business all around the world. Design house Camal recently came up with a concept on how a vehicle could possibly work by fusing elements from the past and future.

The concept we are talking about is what the mentioned design studio called "assisted carriage". This concept utilizes horsepower and no combustion engine, and trust us as we are not horsing around here. Literally 2 horses will be used to pull the vehicle, just like an old-school buggy. As the horses will gain speed, the vehicle's wheel movement will charge the fitted batteries and the vehicle's electric motors can aid in the momentum in the situation where the horses get tired.

Viva Concept will be able to run on electric power alone and can readily navigate autonomously when the driver will leave the animals in their own stables. For its exterior design, it comes off as simple with futuristic touches. Long, textured rails extend down each side of the carriage, and 2 wheels are situated at the front. The passengers are seated in the large pod, and a spherical wheel is located at the back.

For now, Camal's released illustrations of the Viva do not indicate the measurements but we assume that the vehicle would be a big one. According to the company, the Viva is estimated to be at 23 ft (7 m) long. For your reference, a Rolls-Royce Phantom Extended measures a good 20 ft (6.092 m) long. The Viva is also 8.2 ft (2.5 m) wide and 6.6 ft (2m) tall. The futuristic carriage/vehicle's generous size provides a plush interior, as 4 passengers would face each other from pairs of big, comfy chairs found on each side of the interior.

Even if it is rather evident that the horse and buggy transportation will not replace vehicles as mainstream means of transport anytime soon, we can give mad props to Camal for the ingenious concept presented. For the record, the Viva is not the first autonomous concept coming from Camal. The Edit concept was the first one, and it was a highly modular design with all levels of autonomy, from 0 through 5. Furthermore, when the world will run out of fossil fuels at any given time, maybe this mode of transport will overtake the world. Now that's what we call horse-power.

Press Release

VIVA, the new CAMAL's concept

VIVA is the CAMAL vision of sustainable luxury, a unique concept above every classification

Founded in 2008 by the hand of Alessandro Camorali — whose career intertwined with notable brands and sources of Italian automobile design — CAMAL S.r.l. has a talented team of young designers and virtual modellers, with the ability to fullfill every client's’ request, working on special projects and one-off vehicles.

VIVA born to offer exclusivity to an increasingly growing demand from special clients, finding its position above today's standards for a vehicle and approaching the ideal of luxury used on the nautical and architectural fields.

The style of VIVA is born as an expression of pure form. Basic geometries transform and intersect themselves in a rational movement, interrupted by an asymmetrical cover with a complex craftsmanship. Order and movement combine volumes, colors and materials that brought to life by the reflecting light. The true luxury becomes time, a value that cannot be measured economically and that lives through styles and costumes.

The size of VIVA is diffucult to compare to conventional vehicles with 7m of lenght, a width of 2,5m and 2m height without considering the horses. Comparable to a limousine, its elliptical central body has a comfortable space for 4 occupants in “vis a vis“ configuration, a living room where you can spend your time with discretion and with all the comforts.The two side runners that support the central capsule are precisely hand-worked with deco motifs and frame in the front position two indipendent, electrical wheels while in the rear they point out the spherical GOODYEAR wheel ensuring an optimal setting reguarding stability and driving comfort. The front of the vehicle wants to recall the dawn of cars, two plexiglass illuminated in the contours frame make a conceptual grille, opening in width when switching from carriage to autonomous vehicle.

VIVA is born as an assisted carriage, a concept which is new but at he same time as old as the vehicle's birth.Horses act as a traction in carriage mode recharging the litium batteries. In case of effort or fatigue due to the changing ground, horses are assisted by the electric motors in order to reduce the impacton the traction.In this mode, as in the previous one, horses don't act as an ornament but as a real support for the self-driving of the carriage, guided by the animal intelligence like once in former times creating a simbiosis with men.The third stage of the vehicle involves the detachment of the horses in special equipped parking areas, transforming the carriage into a totally electric autonomous vehicle.

VIVA doesn't want to be the car of tomorrow but the status of the future luxury, for this reason its not meant to become a design icon but wants to show a possible future where elegance and luxury can coexist with concepts of sustainable mobility, respecting and enhancing the environment and the elements that surround men.